Jul 17
25
Time and Place Salvation
Don Bell
There are many who make much out of a “know so” salvation, and insist on a time and place when “you got saved”. Well I have a Time and Place when the Lord Jesus Christ saved me and brought me to know Him.
The Time – “Chosen In Christ before the foundation of the world”, again “God who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to His own purpose and grace given us in Christ before the foundation of the world” “When it Pleased God who separated me from my mothers womb and called me by His grace”.
The Place – Two thousands years ago when Christ bore my sins in His own body on the tree, when He was made sin for me and put away my sin once for all by the sacrifice of Himself. Do you have a time and place when God saved you by His grace in Christ?
The Power of Man in Salvation
Daniel Parks
There is no power in man to save, because salvation comes to those who are “without strength” (Romans 5:6) by virtue of being in their native condition “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). Neither is there power in the law to save, because it is “weak through the flesh” (Romans 8:3), through man’s inability to keep it. Neither is there power in baptism (or any other ordinance or sacrament), being evidenced in that Paul declared, “Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel” (1 Corinthians 1:17). Rather, this power of God to salvation is found in the gospel, which is the word of God, a revelation of the divine will which “is quick and powerful.”
A Sure Salvation
Tommy Robbins
“And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of His people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon His land.” Zechariah 9:16
The heart and design of all false religion is the promotion of man’s self-righteousness and imagined free-will in opposition to the glorious righteousness of Christ and God’s sovereign free-will. The righteousness and free-will of man is non-existent in the justification of sinners before God. The works and will of man is certain damnation for those who trust therein. The Lord Jesus Christ and His redemptive work is the only ground for justifying righteousness before the Holy God.
The Bible only knows and reveals a full, free and sure salvation wrought by the One “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” – Romans 3:25, and “He is the propitiation for our sins” – 1 John 2:2. The salvation of God in Christ is certain, sure and everlasting because it is His salvation, wrought by Him and dispensed by Him. I fall and fail ten thousand times a day but He never has and never will fail, yea, CANNOT fail! – “He shall not fail nor be discouraged” Isaiah 42:4. The salvation of God’s elect children is as sure as the majestic Throne of His Glory, eternal in the heavens.
The earth shall burn and crumble, the sun will refuse to shine, the stars will fall like rain, and death and hell shall be cast into the lake of fire, but the Great Shepherd and His sheep shall dwell safely together on the Mountain of the Lord in the Land of Promise and “they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon His land.”
When our Lord said, “It is finished,” IT WAS FINISHED! Period! Our Surety sealed all covenant promises with His everlasting, efficacious blood. Away with all fancies and notions contrived in the hearts of fallen, unregenerate mankind concerning salvation. May we ever raise the banner of God’s free, sovereign, and everlasting grace in Christ Jesus our Lord!
Salvation is a process, having its roots in the timeless eternity of God’s existence and bearing fruit throughout history and into the unending eternity of the heavenly existence of God’s saints. At various points in time, God has brought to pass various aspects of His grand work of the salvation of His people.
Some of the aspects of God’s salvation have double and multiple fulfillments. For example, regeneration may be a singular event, but conversion is a life-long process of transforming and renewing the mind (way of thinking). Even redemption is a multifaceted event. The payment of the redemption price was made once for all by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. But redemption involves more than merely paying a price; it also involves taking possession of the redeemed property. Therefore, it would be entirely appropriate to consider the Spirit’s call by the gospel to be an act of redemption, for in such a call God takes possession of the redeemed property. Such a call is also part and parcel of our redemption in as much as it is the actual loosing of the bonds of slavery to the law, sin and death. But there is even more to redemption than this, for in Romans 8 Paul speaks of our being delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, which he calls our adoption and the redemption of our bodies.
And what of justification? It might suit our desire for a neat and orderly theology to assume that justification is a singular event, but such a thought does not square with the Scriptures, for they speak of justification as happening on many occasions. To justify means to declare righteous. Since justification is by God, it is as eternal as He is. Justification is also the experience of each of the elect of God when he first believes the gospel, and it is also his experience on every occasion when his sin is brought to his attention, and he pleads the blood of Christ upon it. Furthermore, every one of the Lord’s elect shall be justified in that great day when God’s appointed day of judgment by Jesus Christ arrives and all his elect are declared righteous in His sight.
Many needless heresies, quarrels and controversies can be avoided by remembering that God’s grace has many facets, and each glorious facet appears in its own time. It is much more enjoyable to sit and gaze on the “manifold wisdom of God” in the various workings of grace than to sit in judgment on such works as to whether they fit well into our apprehension of the form they should take or schedule by which they should arrive.
Joe Terrell
The Salvation of God
God’s salvation is infinitely immense. Usually when we think of being saved, we think of the punishment we are saved from. And that certainly is a blessing of infinite value. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” We also think of the state of blamelessness we have before the law of God because of our justification. “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect: it is God that justifieth.” That is another blessing of infinite value. But the immenseness of this salvation goes farther. It is said in Hebrews 12:10 that we are “partakers of his holiness” and 2 Peter 1:4 says we are “partakers of the divine nature.” This is a breathtaking concept. What a salvation! Not only will I not be punished for my sins, but I am not in a state of guilt before God. Not only am I not in a state of guilt before God, the word of God declares that I am a partaker of his holiness and very nature! God’s salvation is infinitely immense. Perhaps we will get a glimpse when we stand before God perfectly conformed to the image of his Son. Until then, we just believe!
Todd Nibert
Salvation is of the Lord
“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ”(Philippians 1:6).
NOTHING more clearly reveals to us that salvation, sanctification, and redemption are the work of our God than to observe the efforts and failure of those who TRY TO ACCOMPLISH THIS WORK FOR THEMSELVES! The disciples asked, “Lord, who then can be saved?” He said unto them, “WITH MEN THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE; but with God all things are possible.” It is impossible in the flesh for a man to please God. Yet millions, ignorant of the righteousness of Christ, still go about to establish their own righteousness and WILL NOT SUBMIT to the righteousness of God, which is Christ Jesus, our Lord. Many keep up this masquerade to the judgment and then plead their works (Matt. 7: 21-23) before God; but most finally lose interest, keep their names on church rolls, and play church on special days. When they die, their preachers try to find some cause on which to give their families hope; but that, too, is impossible; for IF CHRIST IS NOT IN YOU, there is no hope of glory. “But HE HATH BEGOTTEN US again unto a living hope” (I Pet. 1:3).
Henry Mahan
How is Salvation recieved
“Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed” (Rom. 4:16).
Most everyone would agree that there is immense need of salvation in the soul of all people. Just look around, there are churches and different denominations of religion everywhere. Surely, people are saying there is a necessity of salvation. The scriptures certainly make it plain that there is a need of salvation. For we read, “ For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). The difference among men is, how is salvation received and who accomplished it? Some say it is received and accomplished by works, efforts and ceremony or being a member of a certain church. However, the scriptures plainly teach that salvation (the Lord Jesus Christ) is received by faith, and accomplished by Christ. It was said of Abraham, “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform” (Rom.4:20-21). God in His infinite wisdom has sovereignly chosen faith as the method and means to receive His salvation (Rom.5:1). God reveals to us at least two reasons why salvation is received by believing and not by doing.
1). “That it might be by grace.”
Grace and works are opposites and pull apart. Grace and faith are cooperative and pull together (Rom.11:6). Faith is the fruit of the sovereign grace of God given to the sinners in regeneration (1John 5:1; Eph.2:8-9). Faith traces its very existence, cause, reason and purpose to be all of grace (1Cor.15:10). True saving faith when it is given to the sinners quickly recognizes that it is the gift of God and glorifies Him alone (Rom. 4:20-21; Phil.1:29).
2). “To the end the promise might be sure to all the seed.”
If salvation were determined and dependent upon the works of the sinner it could never be sure to anyone. Who could produce and continue in perfect righteousness by the efforts of the flesh? God says that our best efforts at righteousness are nothing but sinful, stinking rags (Isa. 64:6). However, because salvation is totally determined, accomplished and dependent upon the excellent, perfect person and priestly work of the Lord Jesus Christ it is certain and sure to all of God’s elect. Christ Jesus did provide for them righteousness, salvation and redemption (Psa. 57:2; 1 Cor.1:30), therefore the promise and certainty of salvation must be sure to the believer (2 Sam. 23:5; 2 Cor. 1:20-21; Heb.2:17; Heb. 9:12). Tom Harding
Tom Harding